The Black Unicorn by Terry Brooks
The Black Unicorn by Terry Brooks
Magic Kingdom of Landover, Book 2
CONTENTS
Prologue
Dreams
…And Memories
Shadows
…And Nightmares
Stranger
Edgewood Dirk
Healer Sprite
Dance
Earth Mother
Hunt
Thieves
Mask
Witch and Dragon, Dragon and Witch
Fire and Spun Gold
Search
Mirwouk and Flynt
Discovery
Cat’s Paw
Revelation
Combat
Legend
Epilogue
The End
Prologue
The black unicorn stepped from the morning mists, almost as if born of them, and stared out over the kingdom of Landover.
Daybreak hovered at the crest of the eastern horizon, an intruder that peeked from its place of concealment to catch a glimpse of night’s swift departure. The silence seemed to deepen further with the appearance of the unicorn — as if that one small event in that one tiny corner was sensed somehow throughout the whole of the valley. Everywhere sleep gave way to waking, dreams to being, and that moment of transition was as close as time ever came to being frozen.
The unicorn stood near the summit of the valley’s northern rim, high in the mountains of the Melchor, close to the edge of the world of fairy. Landover spread away before it, forested slopes, and bare rock crags dropping toward foothills and grasslands, rivers and lakes, forests and scrub. Color glimmered in hazy patches through the fading dark where streaks of sunlight danced off morning dew. Castles, towns, and cottages were vague, irregular shapes against the symmetry, creatures that hunkered down in rest and breathed smoke from dying embers.
There were tears in the eyes of green fire that swept the valley end to end and glittered with newfound life. It had been so long!
A stream trickled down and collected in a basin of rocks a dozen yards from where the unicorn stood. A tiny gathering of forest creatures crouched at the edge of that pool and stared in awe at the wonder that had materialized before them — a rabbit, a badger, several squirrels and voles, an opossum and young, a solitary toad. A cave wight melted back into the shadows. A bog wump flattened back into its hole. Birds sat motionless upon the branches of the trees. All were stilled. The only sound was the ripple of the stream over mountain rock.
The black unicorn nodded its head in recognition of the homage being paid. Ebony body gleamed in the half light, mane and fetlocks shimmering like silk thrown in the wind. Goat’s feet shifted and lion’s tail swished, restless movements against the backdrop of the still-life world. The ridged horn knifed the darkness, shining faintly with magic. There had never before been a thing of such grace and beauty in all of creation as the unicorn and never would be again.
Dawn broke sharply over the valley of Landover, and the new day was begun. The black unicorn felt the sun’s heat on its face and lifted its head in greeting. But invisible chains still bound it, and the cold of their lingering presence dispelled almost instantly the momentary warmth.
The unicorn shivered. It was immortal and could never be killed by mortal things. But its life could be stolen away all the same. Time was the ally of the enemy who had imprisoned it. And time had begun to move forward again.
The black unicorn slipped like quicksilver through shadows and light in search of its freedom.
Dreams…
“I had a dream last night,” Ben Holiday announced to his friends at breakfast that morning.
He might as well have been giving a weather report. The wizard Questor Thews did not appear to hear him, his lean, owlish face furrowed in thought, his gaze directed some twenty feet above the breakfast table at an invisible point in space. The kobolds Bunion and Parsnip barely looked up from eating. The scribe Abernathy managed a look of polite curiosity, but for a shaggy-faced dog whose normal look was one of polite curiosity, that was not particularly difficult.
Only the sylph Willow, just come into the dining hall of castle Sterling Silver and seated next to him, showed any real interest — a sudden change of expression that was oddly disquieting.
“I dreamed about home,” he continued, determined to pursue the matter. “I dreamed about the old world.”